Lana Waters Liu

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6:19-21

This morning I was struggling. There was a relationship that I was trying to control. After ruminating on a long list of ways to control it, I added the possibility of just giving up on it.  

As I read this scripture, however, it came to me that that relationship was my treasure.

So, where was I going to store it up—on earth or in heaven?

Would I keep it here in this upside down earth-place? If I did, I could see my anxiety about it, my hurt, my resentment and my self-protect instinct would act as moths and rust and even thieves that would damage it even further.

Or would I keep it in God's right side up place, aka heaven? If I did, I could see that none of those destroyers would have access to foul it up. Instead, God would hold it securely and work with us in His heavenly way to heal and nurture it.

I also faced the fact that my heart was indeed with my treasure. This relationship mattered greatly to me. So I was not just deciding where to store my treasure but also where to keep my heart, for they were bound together.

It sounds like a no-brainer, doesn't it? Yet we are such a product of our upside-down milieu, so used to controlling things or giving up on things, that we call storing our treasure in heaven counter-intuitive. Then we don't understand why our hearts are so fickle and unsettled.

These hearts of ours may take some time to adjust to heavenly storage—mine flits back and forth between storage spaces—but they will gradually settle down. In the process we will have to face the ways our egos have interfered. We will have to learn God's patience with ourselves and with our people. Through it all, though, will be the comfort of knowing our treasured relationship is safe with God and that He is guiding us to wise decision-making, to restoration and to peace.

Follow-up

 I realize this train of thought is different from how we normally think of earthly treasures (cars, jewels, success), heavenly treasures (good works), and even heaven (the hereafter). Therefore it may require some time to process.

 However, if you are struggling with someone or something that merits the term “treasure” in your life, talk with God about what switching that treasure to heavenly storage would entail. In the process, consider where you want your heart to be.